games: saturday | new orleans vs seattle
indianapolis vs  new england
sunday | san francisco vs carolina
san diego vs denver
escape: panna cotta
menu: pizza

The days when 14+ games played one after the other, all Sunday, are long gone.  Playoffs are in full swing and I must say, I am thrilled.  The double digit games have been reduced to 2 on Saturday + 2 on Sunday; liveable.  It was perfect timing, as this Sunday were the Golden Globes and 2 of my fave women of television were hosting.

This was the 2nd Mike + Madelaine only Sunday morning of 2014.  We treated ourselves to a 10am wakeup and headed out the door for our 2nd bowl of 2014 ramen.  After Mike’s Kinton Bowler card was stamped with stamp #9, we headed to Kensington Market for a quick grocery shop then hurried home for the 1pm San Fran vs Carolina game.  I left Mike to his sofa sanctuary and I went about my Sunday business.

Many times I have passed issues of this quarterly magazine on the shelves of Indigo; many times I have casually flipped through its heavy pages; and many times I have almost purchased it.  On an afternoon stroll with Maddy, we stumbled into TYPE, an indepenedent bookstore in Queen West, and that’s where I finally bought a copy. Vol.10 – The Aged Issue  “…–dedicated to all things that get better with time; loved ones, food, family traditions, and a good bottle of wine”.

Vol. 10 started with a series of images that told the stories of time in the wrinkles of hands and led to an article appropriately titled Slow Growth; a wonderfully worded piece that reflected on aging through comparison to the all telling rings of a tree.  Like a tree, though it’s the primary [linear] growth that we see and merit our lives by it is the secondary [width] growth that is subtler and can’t be measured in which we draw awareness from our interactions, internalize our emotions, and archive our experiences.   Toward the end of the article, my eyes couldn’t help but jump to the last line where I noticed the author, Nikaela Marie Peters, was from Winnipeg; such a great read from a fellow Winnipegger!

As I perused pages on retirement pastimes [my faves being unwrapping sweets loudly and napping] and soft food recipes, I landed on a recipe for panna cotta.  I’ve never made it before and decided that I’d give this no bake dessert a try.  This panna cotta recipe was by Alice Waters; an advocate of local and organic food and a chef who champions the slow food movement.

… serves 8 …

[making almond milk]
combine whole almonds + water into a bowl | cover bowl and soak almonds overnight
next day | strain almonds + save liquid | peel off skins and discard | in a blender purée almonds + soaking water | line a strainer w/ cheese cloth + strain blended mixture | measure 1 3/4 cups almond milk + set aside

confession | I know this recipe celebrates the art of slow cooking….but wanting a desert sooner than later I skipped the almond milk making and used Almond Fresh [shhh].  I can’t help it, I’m a millennial.
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lightly brush 8x 4oz ramekins w/ oil
measure 2tblspns water into sml heatproof bowl + sprinkle in gelatin over water to “bloom”  ensuring all all spots are saturated | set aside
in a pot combine cream + sugar + sml pinch of salt | heat over med heat to 170˚F | stir to dissolve sugar + salt
remove from heat + once cooled to 130˚F gently dissolve bloomed gelatin by placing heat proof bowl into a pan of shallow hot water | stir until completely liquified then add to warm cream mixture

stir in almond milk + few drops of almond extract  [optional] | if you made almond milk, strain mixture | pour into ramekins | refrigerate to set for 4-5hrs or overnight

to serve, run a small knife around the inside of each ramekin | turn and wiggle out onto small serving plate | eat as is or top with jam, berries or chocolate sauce
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I will definitely be making this desert again…and maybe with home made almond milk.  It was delicious, delicate, and not too sweet.  My ramekins of jelly took longer than 5hrs to set.  I left them in the fridge overnight, however, I don’t think the gelatin set a hard as it was suppose to.  This may be because I used 10% cream vs heavy cream [as that was all I had] *speculation.  Before serving, I topped the panna cotta with jam + fresh berries + almond chips.

This recipe + this magazine = highly recommended

For Christmas, one our friends got us an amazing cookbook.  Since learning that this book existed Mike had been obsessing about it.  It’s like she’s a mind reader.  We can now add Roberta’s Cookbook to our collection.  Thanks Nia!

For those of you who have been to this Brooklyn pizza establishment, you can attest to its mouth watering Napoleon style pizza.  For those of you who haven’t or aren’t familiar, you may recognize Roberta’s from the GIRLS season 2 finale.  It was where Charlie and Marni had brunch after which Marni stormed out arms crossed pouting and confessed to Charlie that she wants to be with him.  She wants to wake up to him to every morning + make him a snack every night + have his little brown babies + watch him die.

Mike has yet to fully dive into the book and for this Sunday dinner he stuck to the basics and sampled Roberta’s pizza dough and tomato sauce recipes.  Just as the book suggested, he focused on the quality of ingredients vs the complexity of execution.  I now understand why we were scouring all of Kensington Market for san marzano tomatoes.  It all makes sense!

starter: mixed green salad + balsamic mustard dressing + gouda
pizza1 : bacon + mushroom + shallot + garlic
pizza2: spinach + prosciutto

-mmm prosciutto

football pic from denverbroncos.com